Scilly Butterflies

[MikeOxon]

I have recently returned from a family holiday on the Scilly Isles, where the weather was considerably better than the reports I was hearing from the mainland. We enjoyed a reasonable amount of very warm sunshine, interspersed with occasional, sometimes heavy, showers.

On a previous trip, I had failed to note the presence of a sub-species of the Speckled Wood, confined to these islands (Pararge aegeria ssp. insula (Howarth, 1971) In comparison with ssp. tircis (as found throughout most of UK), the ground colour of ssp. insula is said to be a deeper yellowish orange and more nearly resembles that of the nominate subspecies aegeria from southern Europe. Further information is given at: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... es=aegeria

My visit coincided with the ‘gap’ (or, rather, overlap) between the Spring and Summer broods, so I am not sure which brood is represented in each of my photographs. In fact, these butterflies were fairly abundant on all the islands that I visited. My photographs were taken on three different islands in the group: St.Mary’s, Bryher, and St.Agnes.

Bryher, Scilly Isles - 1st June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 12-50mm lens - 1/160s @ f/8 ISO 400

St.Mary's, Scilly Isles - 2nd June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 12-50mm lens - 1/320s @ f/11 ISO 400

St.Agnes, Scilly Isles - 8th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 40-150mm lens - 1/500s @ f/8 ISO 500

Other species seen included Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Painted Lady, and Red Admiral, with a selection of photos below:

St.Mary's, Scilly Isles - 12th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 40-150mm lens - 1/1000s @ f/11 ISO 800

St.Mary's, Scilly Isles - 6th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/640s @ f/7.1 ISO 500

Tresco, Scilly Isles - 3rd June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 12-50mm lens - 1/1250s @ f/11 ISO 800

St.Mary's, Scilly Isles - 4th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 40-150mm lens - 1/800s @ f/10 ISO 500

St.Mary's, Scilly - 6th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/640s @ f/10 ISO500

St.Martin's, Scilly Isles - 5th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 12-50mm lens - 1/250s @ f/10 ISO 400

Of course, the Scillies are not particularly noted for their butterflies but it was interesting to see a good range of species on these rather isolated islands.

The islands are, of course, a major destination for birders and I joined a couple of boat trips specifically to see some of the sea-bird colonies on the uninhabited islands. Rats have been successfully eliminated from several islands, which has had a very beneficial effect on sea-bird breeding success. Whereas, on my previous visit, a couple of years ago, Puffins were fairly scarce, it was great to see that they are now present in good numbers. I was especially pleased to take a portrait of one of these very charismatic birds with a beakful of Sand Eels:

Puffin (Fratercula arctica) Scilly Isles - 10th June 2019
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1600s @ f/8 ISO 800

Mike

[Goldie M]

Great shots Mike and glad the weather was reasonable for you, I love the shot of the Puffin with a beak full Goldie

[MikeOxon]

Thank you Goldie! I wasn't sure about including the Puffin on this site but, with that colourful beak, I feel it qualifies as an honorary butterfly

[Jack Harrison]

Memory is fallible but I seem to recall that Speckled Woods in the Channel Islands (where I used to work regularly some 40 years ago) were of that intermediate background colour similar to those you found on the Scillies.

Jack

[MikeOxon]

Memory is fallible but I seem to recall that Speckled Woods in the Channel Islands (where I used to work regularly some 40 years ago) were of that intermediate background colour similar to those you found on the Scillies.

Your memory is fine, Jack. The book 'Channel Islands Lepidopera' by Michael Shaffer (download from the Biodiversity Heritage Library) contains many references to the colouring of this species on those islands,

Back in 1903, A.H. Swinton noted that the variety on Guernsey seems to be climatic rather than insular, and is more orange than in south of England, but less than in southern Europe. (the ssp. insula had not been described at that time)

More recently, D.J. Wedd noted in 1998 that the paler markings are replaced by orange, similar to the form insulara [sic] from the Scilly Isles and, in 2001, Shaffer noted that some specimens closely resemble subsp. insula Richardson, 1958, which is known from the Scilly Islands.

C.J.Shayer reported in 1962 that requests had been made for study material to aid in researches on insular variation in restricted populations but insufficent numbers were obtained.

It seems that the jury may still be out on the status of Channel Island specimens.

Mike